Europa is the sixth-largest moon in the solar system and hosts a huge ocean beneath its icy shell.

The Juno probe made the closest pass in 22 years of Jupiter's icy moon Europa on Thursday (Sept. 29), providing the best view of the ocean world since the NASA's Galileo spacecraft flew by it 2000.

Skimming just 219 miles (352 kilometers) above Europe's surface, the two-hour flyby was among the three closest-ever glimpses of the icy world.

Video: NASA unveils most amazing view of Jupiter's moon Europa ever .

While geology data from the flyby is just starting to come in, officials termed Juno's rare look as key to establishing observations for NASA's coming Europa Clipper mission, which will launch in just two years to study the icy moon.

"Europa Clipper will study the moon's atmosphere, surface, and interior, with its main science goal being to determine whether there are places below Europa's surface that could support life," JPL stated of the mission, which is scheduled to reach the Jupiter system in 2030.

As the sixth-largest moon in the solar system, Europa is similar in size to Earth's moon but has a much different formation and evolutionary history.

During its flyby, Juno collected some of the highest-ever resolution pictures of the moon at 0.6 miles or 1 km per pixel, JPL stated, along with information about the moon's environment, atmosphere, surface and interior structure.

In pictures: Chaos reigns in detailed views of Jupiter's icy moon Europa.